Beach Petroleum in record quarter

Beach Petroleum Ltd has posted record quarterly oil and gas production, boosted by its takeover of Delhi Petroleum.

In its second quarter, Beach produced 2.31 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) and revenue of $130.9 million, outstripping production of 2.28 mmboe and $94 million of revenue in the December quarter.

Last September Beach snapped up Delhi for $574 million, trumping an offer from Santos Ltd, in order to get a foothold in South Australia’s Cooper Basin joint ventures.

Petroleum sales for the first nine months of the financial year were 7.97 mmboe, jumping 642 per cent on the previous corresponding period of only 1.07 million mmboe, boosted by the Delhi buy.

Beach managing director Reg Nelson said the results gave a strong justification for the buy.

“The success of the Cooper Oil Project to date, which is designed to lift oil production from the region, is already making a material difference to Beach,” he said.

“The Cooper Oil Project delivered strong results to Beach during the quarter, with five successful wells out of seven drilled.

“We are now concentrating on the new Naccowlah Block portion of the program, where a 24-well drilling program has commenced.”

At 1526 AEST Thursday, Beach’s shares were down two cents at $1.285.

Information from: AAP via au.news.yahoo.com